Reviewed by Lamar Kukuk
2/21/09
The movies, music, etc. of
our childhoods “teach” us how those things are supposed to be. Those
templates can be unlearned: certainly I prefer the contemporary television
model with its' serialized stories and complex characters to the quirky
crimefighters and self-contained adventures I watched as a kid. But
when it comes to movie genre fare, I do tend to respond emotionally to
the beats and cliches established in that time period moreso than any before
or since. I mention this as a “your results may vary” disclaimer
before plunging into Paul Blart: Mall Cop, an unabashedly
80's “Die Hard in a Mall” comedy that just delighted the hell out
of me.
Life has given Paul Blart
(Kevin James) a whole lotta lemons, but he's tried to make lemonade.
His hypoglycemia has encouraged weight problems and made it impossible
for him to live his dream of joining the Police Force, so he's embraced
his job as a Mall Security Guard. The only love of his life was just
using him to get a green card, but she left him with a beloved daughter,
Maya (Raini Rodriguez). But Paul's happy face hides a desperate loneliness
and self-esteem issues he fights down to talk to Amy (Jayma Mays), the
new girl at the hair extension stand. She likes him, and he goes
to a local restaurant where “everybody's hanging out” at her invitation.
Alas, a little alcohol leads to a lot of trouble and he's forced to come
to work on Black Friday humiliated. But there's redemption in the
air because a group of thieves led by Inside Man Veck (Keir O'Donnell)
are about to seize the mall and take Amy and everyone else inside the bank
hostage. And faster than you can say Nakatomi Plaza, there's just
one free man left inside the West Orange Pavilion Mall: Paul Blart,
action hero.
Like another current retro
action flick, Taken, Paul Blart wisely uses over
1/3 of its' 90 minute running time establishing its' hero and his situation.
James is extremely likable and really nails the attributes of the self
esteem-challenged, like the need to nervously smile while he's being insulted.
It's safe to say the movie wouldn't be nearly as effective if it didn't
work so hard making us feel like this crisis is Paul's absolute last chance
to prove himself. The Die Hard formula is made for the redemption
of society's cast-offs, and the screenplay James co-wrote with Nick Barkay
uses the situation to surround its' hero with people who've dismissed him
as a loser, right down to the high school “cool kid” (Bobby Cannavale)
who's grown up to command the SWAT team outside the mall. They've
also created a group of villains that's his polar opposite, svelte young
extreme athletes who zip around the mall on bikes and skateboards while
Paul fights crime from the comfort of his Segway.
As I mentioned, James is
great in his first movie as leading man, sad, funny and likable in all
the right ways. Mays makes a perfect love interest for him because
she's got an innate quirkiness that makes you think she'd give a guy a
chance who on paper should have no shot. O'Donnell is wonderful as
the villain who starts out as Blart's slacker friend. He lives large
in the role with great frustrated comic timing and also lords over his
adversary really well. Cannavale is amusing as the kind of guy who
never stops being the Big Man on Campus, Rodriguez and Shirley Knight are
effective as Paul's well-meaning daughter and Mom, and there are lots of
good performances in little roles by the likes of Stephen Rannazzisi and
Peter Gerety. Adhir Kalyan is a hoot as a stalker kid Paul (for reasons
too complicated to discuss here) keeps having to talk to on the phone.
Steve Carr stages all this
with good spunk, although the movie didn't need to be edited quite so tightly
(its' January release date despite its' Black Friday setting probably reflects
an unjustified lack of confidence by the studio that would have inspired
overediting). Virtually every shot of someone moving from one place
to another seems to have been eliminated in the name of streamlining the
running time. But things do move, and Waddy Wachtel chimes in a spiffy
faux-action movie score.
Paul Blart: Mall
Cop is being marketed as a family comedy, and kids should enjoy the
slapstick. But from its' soundtrack full of 80's hits to its' structural
similarities to the greatest of the decade's action flicks, it's a movie
most likely to appeal to people like me, whose sensibilities were forged
in the decade of John McClane and Clara Peller. |
